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Demons shock Carlton in AFL

Jason Phelan

Melbourne coach Paul Roos has praised the perseverance of his players and the club's long-suffering supporters after the Demons stunned Carlton by 23 points at the MCG on Saturday.

The hard-fought win, their first under Roos, snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Blues dating back to 2007 with the coach hopeful the performance will prove to be an important stepping stone in his side's development.

"Time's going to tell. Obviously we've got a long way to go, but it's important," Roos said.

"You've got to have some little wins along the way. Certainly for this group it was absolutely super important to get a win.

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"I think today is obviously a step in the right direction to beat a team that has been under the pump and we knew was going to come out really hard. They kicked a lot of points at the start of the last quarter, (but) for us to steady and win was really important."

The game was still in the balance as the Blues closed to within 17 points late in the game, but a miracle goal from Cameron Pedersen with just over two minutes remaining sealed the first win of Paul Roos' tenure.

Nathan Jones was superb for Melbourne gathering 28 disposals, while blanketing Carlton skipper Marc Murphy, with James Frawley important with two goals and 14 marks up forward.

Roos felt Jones was clearly the best player on the ground but he was also delighted with key forwards Chris Dawes and James Frawley, the latter likely to spend more time in attack after switching from defence last week.

He described the win as just reward for a club that tasted victory just twice last season with the Demons' last win coming way back in June.

"We've been a battling club and we're working as hard as we can," he said. "We thought our effort last week was good and we were surprised when we dropped off so dramatically in the last quarter it's been a frustrating start to the season, but I've always had faith in the players."

Carlton coach Mick Malthouse was measured in his response to the Blues' fourth defeat from four starts this season and refused to concede his club was in crisis.

"A loss is a loss. If I make any difference of today I'm not giving Melbourne full credit," Malthouse said.

"They were very good. They were committed, they were hard, they ran better than us and they capitalised on opportunities.

"A lot of our stats were better, but the fundamentals - the execution - of our disposals were not up to Melbourne's."